ABSTRACT

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is among the common bacterial infections in pediatric patients. These infections are more common in girls over one year old. This study aimed to investigate the bacterial distribution and drug resistance status in urine cultures of pediatric patients in our center.

Urine culture results of patients who were presented to the outpatient clinics or were admitted to the Sivas Cumhuriyet University hospital between January 2017 and December 2022 were included in the study. The hospital automation system, patient files, and laboratory information management system were examined retrospectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 22.0 software. A P-value of <0.05 was deemed significant.

Significant growth was observed in the urine cultures of a total of 1287 pediatric patients, 889 (69.1%) girls and 398 boys (30.9%). The patients included in the study were between the ages of 0-17, and children aged 1-6 (37.6%) were diagnosed with UTI more frequently than other ages. The most common UTI agent in the pediatric age group was Escherichia coli (56.6%). The first agent isolated in girls and boys is E.coli. Additionally, the prevalence of K. pneumoniae, P. mirabilis and K. oxytoca bacteria was higher in boys (p < 0.05). E. coli isolates showed minimal resistance to such as amikacin (0.6%), fosfomycin (1.0%), nitrofurantoin (1.4%), ertapenem (2.4%), imipenem (0.7%) and meropenem (0.9%).

In this study, low resistance levels were detected for amikacin, fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin and carbapenem group antibiotics, which are important alternatives in the empirical treatment of UTI. On the other hand, due to the high resistance levels detected, it is thought that more caution should be exercised in the empirical use of amoxicillin-clavulanate, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and cefixime. If these antibiotics are to be preferred, waiting for the antibiogram results is an appropriate approach.